Piston Rings - replacement

Post by **Drax** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 9:06 pm

anyone replaced their piston rings? mine are suspect to be on the way out so im getting hold of a leakdown tester to check how far gone (or a compression tester will do a similar job apparently).

ive been told i can take the head off and work upwards by taking off the sump and going at them this way, sounds familiar to anyone?

ive done a search on this and a lot of people say replace your engine, its cheaper and easier - but surely all id need is a new head gasket and new set of piston rings .... plus replacement oil once or twice.

any thoughts?
cheers

A1ex · Post by **A1ex** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 9:11 pm

I had mine done at PAW recently. Rich explain the process as I have a habbit of asking too many questions;

Head off, sum off - to undo big end bolts, pull pistons up through top, do the ring business, change the big end bearing, do in reverse replacing gaskets & washers on route.

New oil - semi synth to help rings bed in, change again in 500-1000 miles and off you go.

Post by **Drax** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 9:17 pm

A1ex wrote:I had mine done at PAW recently. Rich explain the process as I have a habbit of asking too many questions;

Head off, sum off - to undo big end bolts, pull pistons up through top, do the ring business, change the big end bearing, do in reverse replacing gaskets & washers on route.

New oil - semi synth to help rings bed in, change again in 500-1000 miles and off you go.

thats pretty much bob-on what ive been told which is re-assuring

thanks matey!

next question is, where best to get the replacement parts from? appart from Honda (£££) or egay (

quality)
id need:
-big end bearing
-piston rings
-head gasket
any other gaskets known of? and i suppose the washers can be from a various selection box

A1ex · Post by **A1ex** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 9:29 pm

OEM all the way for the big ends & piston rings. I think it's aorund £100 - £150 conbined for the rings a bearings (that's a bit of a guess mind)

Head gasket would be OEM again unless you want to get an extra slim one to increase the compression a tad. These often have scope for overbored cylinders however so be careful on the measurements when ordering.

You'll probably need a new rocket cover gasket set (£20). I'll dig out my bill one night and find out what other gaskets etc. were required altho I did have my head rebuilt too so there will be lots of gaskets & seals used for that too. Might be best off getting hold of a honda parts diagram and seeing whats needed for the bottom end.

mercutio · Post by **mercutio** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 9:31 pm

yeah might be good getting the valve stem seals done at the same time

Post by **Drax** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 9:37 pm

A1ex wrote:OEM all the way for the big ends & piston rings. I think it's aorund £100 - £150 conbined for the rings a bearings (that's a bit of a guess mind)

Head gasket would be OEM again unless you want to get an extra slim one to increase the compression a tad. These often have scope for overbored cylinders however so be careful on the measurements when ordering.

You'll probably need a new rocket cover gasket set (£20). I'll dig out my bill one night and find out what other gaskets etc. were required altho I did have my head rebuilt too so there will be lots of gaskets & seals used for that too. Might be best off getting hold of a honda parts diagram and seeing whats needed for the bottom end.

yeh if you could dig out the parts used that would be brill thankyou! ill have a look at my OEM parts diagram and see what i can find.

mercutio wrote:yeah might be good getting the valve stem seals done at the same time

yeh my mate who told me this said getting the valve stem seals done too would perfect opportunity

Post by **4thgenphil** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 9:43 pm

ok, why do you think the piston rings have gone?

it's alot of work and will be costly. LLL was looking at some de cokeing shizzle that is meant to help with freeing up the rings, maybe worth looking at before you spend £2-300 and 2 weekends work, and thats if it all goes to plan.

sorry to be a pessimist!

Post by **Drax** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 11:00 pm

4thgenphil wrote:ok, why do you think the piston rings have gone?

it's alot of work and will be costly. LLL was looking at some de cokeing shizzle that is meant to help with freeing up the rings, maybe worth looking at before you spend £2-300 and 2 weekends work, and thats if it all goes to plan.

sorry to be a pessimist!

because every time i accelerate/change gear/hoof it, i get a black/blue smoke out the back, and its not that long since my last oil change - plus i use millers 10/60. If LLL finds that the de-cokeing shizz works then ill happily do that - i wouldnt do this work for at least a month anyway as im moving house soon. dont worry matey, im a realist so if its gonna be pointless or stupid money then i aint doin it

Post by **4thgenphil** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 11:04 pm

fair enough mate, just see alot of people say "oh just take the head and sump off pop out the pistons and change the rings then simply put it all back together" its actually a fairly big job!

just if you do go ahead with it MAKE SURE YOU LET THE CAR COOL FOR AT LEAST 24HRS BEFORE YOU TAKE THE HEAD OFF!

Post by **Drax** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 11:13 pm

4thgenphil wrote:fair enough mate, just see alot of people say "oh just take the head and sump off pop out the pistons and change the rings then simply put it all back together" its actually a fairly big job!

just if you do go ahead with it MAKE SURE YOU LET THE CAR COOL FOR AT LEAST 24HRS BEFORE YOU TAKE THE HEAD OFF!

haha its defo not a job id do myself, but i have good friends that will happily help me do it who know their Honda shizzle. its something id do through a dry week, or if we can find a house with a nice garage soon, an in-garage jobbie with tea & biscuits! sounds like you've had a "heated" experience with not so cool heads?!

cheers for the advice